Seeing Red: The Tale of Laurel Castillo's First Murder
by Jaimie-Lannister
Summary: The title says it all. Laurel was enjoying her sophomore year of college when her life took a dark turn. One-shot.


Laurel Castillo should have never dated her best friend's twin brother. Much less should she have given him her heart. In hindsight, it was a bad idea to begin with. Stories like that never have happy endings, although this one does not end in a way she would have previously expected.

It was December, and a cold one at that. She watched the snow litter the ground through the window of her boyfriend's dorm room. She wanted so badly to dance in it, to let it bite her nose and freeze every strand of her loose hair into its own icicle. Unfortunately, she was confined to sitting on her boyfriend's bed with her criminal law textbook.

Alex stood up from his desk and plopped down next to her. "Just a short break from cramming? Please?"

He knew the answer before it left her mouth. "No."

"Come on, Laur. You're going to kill your final tomorrow morning. You can take a little bit of a break."

She pecked his cheek. "Don't call me that. And nice try, but I seriously still need to memorize, like, half of this stuff." She sighed. "Actually, I promised to help Jess with organic chem, so I should probably get going." She gave him a deep kiss, hoping it would hold him over. "Tomorrow, I promise."

He pouted. "Fine. If you promise."

She smirked and gathered her things before making a swift exit.

Later that night, she decided that she did need a break from the headache called 'studying.' Instead of going to her boyfriend's room, though, she went to the library. That's where she always went when she was stressed. The building was old, built maybe 150 years prior, and needed more renovations than the school was willing to pay for. Fortunately, the antique design opened the door to secret hallways and coves - one of which she'd discovered within months of starting college. She loved to go there and just sit with her thoughts. There time didn't move. Other people didn't exist. Her classes. Her friends. Gone. Her own little world, where nothing else matter, even if only until she crawled back into reality. One time, she even showed it to Alex. He'd found it a bit strange, but she wasn't one to be bothered by her boyfriend's opinions of her habits.

This time, as she entered her safe haven, she found that it was not vacant. There were two truculent bodies having sex, so focused on each other that they didn't realize Laurel had entered the room. She knew it must be Alex. It was unlikely that anyone else would have been able to find it. She stood there and waited for them to recognize her presence. It only took a few moments for the woman to see her silhouette in the dim lighting.

"Oh my god," she said, alerting Alex to the situation.

Laurel stumbled back. She'd recognize that voice anywhere. She didn't want it to be true. How could she have been so fooled, so played by everyone around her? Of course, the woman screwing Laurel's boyfriend was none other than Leah, her best friend, and Alex's twin sister.

Laurel didn't know what to do. Nausea overcame her. She felt so intensely violated. Alex had taken her safe haven and turned it into a hiding place for his revolting, incestuous relationship.

"Alex," her cold voice cut the air like glass. "Get out."

He did as much without doing anything more than grabbing his pants. Leah, however, stayed frozen, pulling a jacket taut against her bare body. She spewed out scrambled words to explain the disturbing affair that Laurel had stumbled upon. Laurel didn't respond. She didn't even hear the words. Let her ramble. Laurel was waiting. She determined that Alex must be a good distance away, so she turned her head towards Leah, the first recognition that she'd showed the girl since Alex left.

"Laurel, please don't tell," Leah begged.

"I won't." Laurel's voice was clinical and emotionless, terrifying. She walked closer. She didn't know what she was going to do. Slap her, punch her... But she didn't have time to decide. Leah jumped at her and dug her fingernails into Laurel's neck.

She squeezed at Laurel's throat and cried, "You will! You will! I'm sorry. I can't let you do that. I'm-"

The sharp metal bar came swinging up and embedded itself in Leah's skull. It was the first thing that Laurel could grab. It must have come from some part of the dilapidated building.

Laurel pushed the girl off of her and gasped for breath. The raw skin on her neck throbbed and pulsed as the bar came crashing down again.

She took a deep breath. She did it again.

The bone splintered and flesh splattered at the force of her bash.

Again.

The last bit of life left Leah's eyes.

Again.

Brain matter was spilling out of the skull fragments.

Again.

Laurel looked up and felt a chill take over her body. Maybe she would regret this decision. Maybe she would cry over it, and not just fake tears. But in that moment, with adrenaline pumping through her veins, she felt nothing but power and vengeance. In a sick way, standing over this recently deceased body, she felt more alive than she ever had before. It was invigorating. As it would turn out, finals were not the only things that she would be killing.

* * *

 **Author's Note: I wrote this at 2 AM because I didn't want to do my homework so I hope you enjoyed that. This is a one-shot and I will NOT be continuing it but if you liked it, I would REALLY appreciate reviews!**


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